While the cogs of the transfer window are as usual, incessantly linking Manchester United with a whole raft of often bizarre summer targets, it’s in the future of one man touted by many to leave the club which seems to be sparking the most fervent of speculation.
It’s hardly as if it takes much to extract the ire out of Sir Alex Ferguson, but a sure fire way of prompting the Scot’s fury these days seems to be via means of suggesting a potential Javier Hernandez exit from Old Trafford.
The 71-year-old recently poured scorn on suggestions that the Mexican striker could leave the club in the summer, retorting: “He’s on a long contract for starters and we won’t be entertaining any interest.”
Ferguson’s admiration for Hernandez’s work ethic, positive attitude and incredible goalscoring ability is no real secret and with 16 goals in 29 matches this campaign, it’s not exactly too difficult to establish why.
But while Chicharito’s professionalism is unlikely to see him start throwing his toys out of the pram or flirt with rival clubs any time soon, you can’t help but feel the current honeymoon status that Ferguson is enjoying with his striking set-up can’t go on forever.
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Because while 29 outings for the season so far might not constitute such a poor return after all, it’s worth noting that the Mexican hitman has only manage to make the starting line-up in the Premier League on a desperately disappointing six occasions. Certainly, his eight league goals have played an important part in setting the Red Devils en-route to what is now an inevitable 20th league title.
Yet for as important as his contribution to the collective may have been, his individual bearing on this team has been painfully consigned to the periphery.
His manager is often keen to stress the importance of his role within this United side and even as recent as last week, Ferguson was keen to state Hernandez’s ‘brilliant’ goalscoring record and striking attributes. On the other side of the coin, however, he also recognised the issues he’s faced in getting the Guadalajara-born striker into his starting line-up.
“I’ve said to him it’s not easy to keep leaving him out,” Ferguson said.
“But it’s difficult when you’re up against a player of Robin van Persie’s form, then you’ve got Welbeck, Rooney, (Shinji) Kagawa – that’s the benefit of having a strong squad.”
And it’s within the strength of those striking options that the potentially ominous reality of his future at Old Trafford might potentially signal a change in thought process for the 24-year-old.
In Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney, United are lucky enough to boast not just one, but arguably two of the finest strikers that this league has to offer and considering the previously bulletproof Englishman has found his role in this team to no longer be the watertight one it once was, you get an idea as to quite how tough a task that lies in wait for Hernandez.
With Wayne Rooney currently occupying the No10 like role in which Shinji Kagawa looks most comfortable in – thanks in no small part to Robin van Persie’s arrival at the club – Hernandez doesn’t necessarily even have a natural fit within this United side, let alone taking into account the list of players that sit ahead of him within the ranks.
Even when you take the aforementioned trio out of the equation, the Mexican still has to fight off competition from England starlet Danny Welbeck and so far this campaign, it’s been a battle that he’s struggled to overcome. While Hernandez remains unquestionably the better goalscorer, Welbeck’s versatility and wider skillset has often seen him given the nod over United’s No14, with the Manchester-born striker making a further eight appearances in the Premier League this season.
The club has of course been lucky enough to avoid much in the way of an injury crisis in attack and consequently, Hernandez has been deprived of the opportunity to even scrape a run of games as a result of circumstance. But it feels difficult to see how, bar a long-term injury to one of United’s current forward pairing, how the status quo is really likely to change for the Mexican at the start of next season.
With talk linking the club with a move for Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski refusing to subside, regardless of whether the big Pole does or doesn’t make a move to the Premier League, Hernandez’s prospects of regular first team football at the club are beginning to look very bleak indeed.
Of course, unless a Real Madrid or a Barcelona come in for him, any move away from Old Trafford is likely to be a step down for Hernandez. But while both player and manager may feel loathsome towards a departure, if the Mexican has any designs on regular first-team football, he might well have to ask himself some very difficult questions indeed come the end of the season.
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